Donald Trump and his two eldest children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, are expected to testify under oath in the coming days in the New York attorney general's civil probe into the family's business practices.
The Trump family was slated to testify Friday, but in a last-minute announcement the attorney general's office said the interviews would be postponed because of the death of Ivana Trump, the former president's first wife and the mother of Donald Jr. and Ivanka.
"In light of the passing of Ivana Trump yesterday, we received a request from counsel for Donald Trump and his children to adjourn all three depositions, which we have agreed to," the attorney general's office said in a Friday morning statement.
On Thursday afternoon, Trump announced the passing of his ex-wife, who died at her Manhattan home this week at the age of 73.
"This is a temporary delay and the depositions will be rescheduled as soon as possible. There is no other information about dates or otherwise to provide at this time," the attorney general's office said.
The depositions come after the Trump family exhausted their appeals and a court ruled that the three were obligated to testify as part of the probe into allegations that the Trump Organization inflated financial statements.
New York Attorney General Letitia James' probe was launched after Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, testified to Congress in 2019 that the organization regularly committed fraud by inflating the value of assets to secure loans from banks while undervaluing those assets to the government to save on tax bills.
The investigation could result in a lawsuit, although not criminal charges, against the former president. Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the yearslong investigation and called the probe a "witch hunt."
James' office is expected to ask Trump key questions about the "financial statements [he] provided to banks, insurers, and the Internal Revenue Service," which the attorney general alleges he misrepresented, according to court filings.
Ivanka, a former executive at her father's company, and Donald Jr., the executive vice president of the Trump Organization, will also testify separately on the company's financial operations.
According to a court filing, subpoenas sent in December said prosecutors were seeking "testimony and documents in connection with an investigation into the valuation of properties owned or controlled by Donald J. Trump or the Trump Organization, or any matter which the Attorney General deems pertinent."
Lawyers for the Trumps have tried to block the subpoenas from James' office by arguing that the investigation is politically motivated and designed to help a parallel criminal investigation led by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Trump is also facing a similar criminal probe in Westchester County, New York.
"The only one misleading the public is Letitia James," a Trump spokesperson said in a January statement. "She defrauded New Yorkers by basing her entire candidacy on a promise to get Trump at all costs without having seen a shred of evidence and in violation of every conceivable ethical rule."
The testimony being sought from the Trumps will not be conducted in public and is expected to conclude by the end of next week.
Trump's other son, Eric, already answered questions under oath by James' investigators back in 2020.
In a January 2022 court filing, James said that Eric invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 500 times during the deposition, answering only background questions in the six-hour interview.
Update 7/15/22, 10:07 a.m. ET: This story was updated to include the postponement of the Trump family depositions.
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Katherine Fung is a Newsweek reporter based in New York City. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and world politics. ... Read more
